Boris Johnson has announced a new national lockdown for England – with people instructed to “stay at home” as they did during last March’s first shutdown. The public are being asked to follow the new rules, which have now replaced England’s tiers system, from tomorrow (5th January).

It is expected the new lockdown in England will last until the middle of February (at least until half terms for schools).

Mr Johnson expressed his hope that, at this point, nearly 14 million people will have all been offered the first dose of a vaccine.

From now, people across the whole country must now stay at home apart from five exceptions:

• for work if they can’t work from home
• to shop for food and medicine
• to exercise once per day outside
• to provide care to vulnerable people
• to attend medical appointments or get a Covid test

All primary schools, secondary schools and colleges will move to online learning from Tuesday. However, nurseries can remain open.

With his announcement of schools’ closure coming just a day after he urged parents to send their children back to classrooms, Mr Johnson acknowledged the “inconvenience and distress” to pupils and parents. However, rumours are that exams will be cancelled in the summer.

Essential shops, garden centres and places of worship can remain open but zoos and sports facilities – including golf courses, swimming pools and tennis courts – must close. Elite sports – such as Premier League football – will continue, as will PE lessons for those children still attending school.

Shielding will resume for those who are judged to be clinically vulnerable, with those groups being urged to stay at home as much as possible and not go to work even if they can’t work from home.

They should only go outside for exercise or to attend health appointments.

Overall – the message is clear. Stay home, protect the NHS and save lives.